


We Gotta Keep Moving

by writeitininkorinblood



Series: Out in the Barrio [3]
Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-13 13:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7977670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeitininkorinblood/pseuds/writeitininkorinblood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sequel to No Me Diga, exploring Pete and Sonny's relationship in the barrio.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Tool Box

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from the lyrics to Blackout, just because I liked the idea of everything moving forwards.
> 
> Set in November. Nina is at college, Sonny is in his last year of school.

Usnavi looked up from sorting receipts into the register as soon as the bell rung, expecting to see a customer in need of a café con leche or something of the like. Instead, he found Pete awkwardly walking towards him and coming to an abrupt halt a few metres from the counter as if he was scared to get any closer.

“Hey. Sonny’s not here,” Usnavi said, waving away the odd behaviour because, hey, he was trying to be nice to Sonny’s boyfriend and ‘why are you being weird?’ might not be construed as all that nice.

Wringing his hands together so tightly he was in danger of actually pulling the bones from their sockets, Pete rocked up onto the balls of his feet before dropping back down again, clearly stalling. Eventually, he replied.

“I know. I wanted to ask you something.” So far, so good, he thought. Except next came the actual asking part and he couldn’t quite force himself to speak any louder than a mumble. “Can I… I was wondering… Sonny and I’s…” The mention of Sonny’s name meant he had Usnavi’s full attention and it took all his mental energy to not wilt under that stare. He’d gotten in too far to turn back now. “We’ve been dating eight months, in a few weeks,” he explained, unable to keep the content smile off his face, “and I wanted to take him somewhere nice. But we might not be back until late and I…”

Usnavi’s gaze suddenly hardened from a stare to a glare and Pete trailed off, fighting the urge to take a huge step back.

“You’re asking me to let you take him out past curfew?” Usnavi asked, extremely matter-of-fact. He only felt a little bad when Pete winced. Sonny was still a kid, in his eyes, and Pete knew it. Usnavi didn’t want him roaming the streets late at night, no matter who he was with.

“…Yeah,” Pete muttered, just barely stopping the word from making itself a question.

He’d never actually been expecting Usnavi to say yes, but he’d hoped all the same.

“I think it’s equally possible to take him somewhere nice in the day,” Usnavi said, with a very pointed look before he returned to the receipts to very clearly signify that the conversation was over.

“Oh. Yeah. Sure,” Pete mumbled, downcast. “Sorry, Sir.”

He couldn’t take Sonny where he wanted to in the day – it wasn’t open. Still, he’d find somewhere else.

Usnavi watched as Pete turned to go, clearly upset that he couldn’t go through with his plan, and he sighed. The kid just wanted to make his cousin happy, after all. And he hadn’t actually given Usnavi a reason to dislike him, other than the fact he was dating Sonny.

“Pete,” he called, hoping he wasn’t going to regret this.

Stopping in his tracks, Pete looked over his shoulder with so much hope in his eyes that Usnavi just sighed.

“Have him home, _here_ ,” he stressed, not about to allow Sonny to stay over with his boyfriend, “by two at the very latest. And look after him. No alcohol. Nothing illegal. Yes?”

Pete gawped for a second, shocked, but he shook his head to clear his brain and grinned, nodding like a bobble head.

“Of course. Thank you, Sir,” he said.

“Usnavi, Pete, not Sir,” Usnavi corrected, wryly. No one called him sir and he didn’t want it to be a habit Pete adopted. He was slowly growing more used to the idea of him dating Sonny, and Sonny definitely didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get rid of him. If the kid was sticking around then he could call Usnavi by his name – the same as anyone else.

“Thank you, Usnavi,” Pete rectified, smiling with genuine appreciation.

He hadn’t imagined getting to this point. When he’d first started dating Sonny he’d always assumed that Usnavi would hate him, resenting him for his past, and that he’d never think he was good enough for Sonny because of the holes in his clothes and his lack of finances, even if he’d been okay with the gay thing. This was better than Pete had ever dreamed.

***

Usnavi would probably have been less fine about the idea of Pete taking Sonny out if he could see them now.

If Sonny wasn’t down to work shifts at the bodega as soon as school ended then he had a habit of finding himself at Pete’s apartment and, usually, spending his time there making out with him on the ratty couch. This was one of those days.

Pete savoured each moment he got with Sonny like this. He was aware, somewhere in the back of his mind, that Sonny could very likely be going off to college next year and that a long distance relationship was going to be hell, and he wanted to make the most of the time he had left to be tactile. Still, as much as he wanted to kiss Sonny, he also couldn’t wait to fill him in on the earlier conversation with Usnavi. He pushed himself up on his arms, pressing one last kiss to Sonny’s lips when he whined and stretched up to follow him.

“I am taking you out for our anniversary,” Pete grinned, proud of himself. The night he had in mind was planned entirely to make Sonny happy and there was nothing Pete liked more than that.

Sonny looked up at his boyfriend, his pout turning to inquisitive confusion. It didn’t look like he was going to be kissed back into the couch cushions anymore, but he supposed the potential for a date mostly made up for it.

“Tell me more?” he asked, intrigued.

They hadn’t been out on a real date before. Pete had tried once or twice to cook a meal for the two of them in his apartment, but he wasn’t the greatest chef and overcooked mac and cheese wasn’t quite what either of them had in mind. Besides, Sonny’s curfew ruined things even when the food didn’t. They could have gone outside for a date, but Sonny was still on edge whenever he was out in the barrio with Pete when things hadn’t quite settled down from the incident with the grate. If all he got was kissing on an old couch and sex that felt like a disappointment when he couldn’t curl up and go to sleep with Pete afterwards, Sonny wouldn’t mind – because Pete was his to love and that was enough. But a date, a _real_ date, still sounded nice.

When Pete rolled off the sofa to reach for his phone on the table, Sonny groaned. Clearly they weren’t returning to the making out any time soon. Pete just smirked and, when he returned – phone in hand, he pressed a kiss to the corner of Sonny’s lips to appease him. Just as Sonny was beginning to question why his question was being ignored, Pete pulled up an image of a poster on the screen and held it out.

Sonny blinked for a moment, stunned by the brightness suddenly in his face, but once he adjusted to the light he fell silent as he read. It was a poster for Latin night at a club that had a local address. Smiling sadly, Sonny gently pushed Pete’s hand so he lowered the phone. From the little information that was on the poster, it looked great. And the fact that Pete had even tried to plan something was sweet, but he’d forgotten one important thing.

“I’ll never get in, I’m not 21 and I don’t look it,” Sonny pointed out. “ _You’re_ not 21 either. Besides, Usnavi will never let me go. It’s not happening.”

He collapsed back against the sofa with a ruefully shrug. It had been a nice thought, but he couldn’t see it going anywhere.

Pete abandoned the phone and climbed back onto the sofa, straddling Sonny’s hips and kissing up his neck.

“Yes it is,” he mumbled against Sonny’s skin, smiling like he kept a secret. “I know one of the guys that work there. As long as we don’t drink, he’ll let us in.”

As soon as he’d learnt that his friend had scored a part time job at this particular club he’d been trying to work up the courage to ask Usnavi for permission to take Sonny there. But ‘I want to take your underage cousin who you look at half like a brother and half like a son to a club which neither he nor I am legally allowed to be in’ is not a sensible thing to say to someone who you want to like you, so their anniversary had worked well as a reason to ask to take Sonny out without having to explain exactly where they were going to go.

Sonny tilted his head back to let Pete continue his trail of kisses, humming half in recognition of what Pete was saying and half to will him to continue.

“Usnavi still won’t let me,” he frowned. He could try to sneak out, but it wasn’t worth getting caught and getting into trouble that would give Usnavi ammunition to use against Pete.

Shuffling back a little so he could give Sonny a smug grin, Pete pressed a somewhat mocking kiss to his nose and raised both eyebrows suggestively.

“Cleared it with him. I have you until 2am,” he whispered, kissing Sonny deeply again to suggest exactly what they could get up to in that time. Except Pete did actually plan on taking him to the club. “Also I feel awful about this because I promised nothing illegal and _technically_ this is illegal. He was real nice, too. But I’m sticking to the no alcohol part of my promise so it’s kind of okay?” he winced, realising quite how much deception was involved in this idea.

Sonny let out a bark of surprised laughter, wrapping both his arms around Pete’s neck to pull him in for another long kiss. What Usnavi didn’t know about their anniversary wouldn’t hurt him.

“Advance warning,” Sonny said breathlessly, when he’d finally let Pete go, “I’m not going to be able to dance with you and kiss you in public without some form of alcohol in my system.”

He couldn’t meet Pete’s eyes, feeling disappointed that he couldn’t go out with his boyfriend like he could have done if he were dating a girl. He wanted to dance with him and hold his hand on the walk back from the club and kiss him goodnight at the door – but it all seemed like too much of a risk. If the wrong person saw, it might not end well. And if that happened Usnavi might actually never let him leave the apartment again.

“Yes you will,” Pete said confidently, smirking again to suggest he knew something else.

“Pete,” Sonny sighed, “you know I-”

“It’s a gay club, Sonny.”

Pete said the words so matter-of-fact; like they didn’t have so much weight behind them.

“Whoa,” Sonny gawped, scrambling to sit up properly.

He hadn’t even considered that Pete might have been thinking about taking him to a gay club. It wasn’t news that they were numerous in New York City, but he’d never set foot in one – he’d barely even thought about it. And now he’d be going to one in a few weeks. Excitement, nerves and the remnants of fear from what had happened in the store were echoing in his mind and he felt his hands start to shake.

Seeing the rapid movement, Pete took Sonny’s hands and squeezed them gently to still the tremors.

“That okay?” He asked, getting a little worried that his grand plan for a good night out wasn’t what Sonny wanted at all.

“Yeah. I mean… Yes,” Sonny mumbled, looking up with the beginnings of tears in his eyes.  “For real?”

“For real,” Pete confirmed, smiling softly. This was the right idea after all. “No one will give you a second look if you dance with me.”

The words made Sonny gasp a little, realising how badly he wanted to feel normal like that. He twisted his hands so his fingers were interlocked with Pete’s, imagining how it would feel to do that in public in a place where no one was going to judge him if they saw.

“You okay?” Pete checked.

Sonny nodded, leaning forward to kiss him desperately. He freed his fingers on one hand to wrap his arm around Pete’s neck and pull him closer, but he didn’t let go with the other one.

“I really fucking love you,” he mumbled against Pete’s lips, letting his boyfriend respond in kind with his lips and tongue.

 

***

Four weeks later

***

 

“Hey, how’s life in the barrio?”

Nina’s voice was a breath of fresh air and it made Sonny miss her all the more. After he’d let go of his childhood crush on her they’d become firm friends, and he loved having someone he could share everything about Pete with. He knew Usnavi might still judge him, and would feel obligated to punish him when he broke rules, and Vanessa would only pass news on to Usnavi, as might Benny. Daniela and Carla gossiped too much, and the Rosarios were still lukewarm about the whole thing. That pretty much just left Nina, unless Sonny was going to go spilling his secrets to the piragua guy. So they had weekly Skype chats where Nina got a little bit of home and and Sonny got someone to talk to.

“Probably less interesting than life at Stanford,” Sonny laughed.

College seemed big and exciting and worlds away from 183rd street, and Sonny couldn’t wait for his own chance to experience it.

Nina shrugged, less convinced.

“I’d say the drama is about equal. What’s new?” Nina asked, desperate to catch up on gossip from home. When Sonny blushed and looked down, she knew there was something new to learn about him and Pete and she wriggled her fingers in anticipation. “I know that face. Come on, spill. What happened?”

“Nothing,” Sonny protested, clearly lying.

Nina rolled her eyes, entirely unconvinced. She knew Sonny like he was her own brother and he was not going to get away with pretending nothing had happened.

“I babysat you. You can hide nothing from me,” she glared, attempting to intimidate him into the truth.

It worked, like it always did.

“Pete took me out. On a proper date,” he admitted, feeling like a twelve-year-old girl at a sleepover. He was blushing and gossiping with Nina Rosario about boys. If someone had told him five years ago that this was going to happen, he would have laughed in their face. And yet here he was.

“Details,” Nina pressed, leaning closer to the camera with her eyes widening.

She knew all about Sonny’s relationship ups and downs and how he was struggling with the idea of being out in public, so a date was a huge step and she was excited for him.

“No, seriously it wasn’t anything huge,” Sonny mumbled, trying to downplay how great it had felt and how horrible it had been to have to leave and not know when he could go back. “Just a club and-”

Nina held up a hand to stop him, going from giggling friend to stern parent in a second,

“A club? Sonny, you’re seventeen,” she said, clearly asking how they’d managed to get in.

She knew she should have been disapproving but instead she was mostly impressed that they’d even pulled that off.

“He knew a guy?”

Sonny supressed a smile, trying not to look too happy about illegally sneaking into a club even though it had been one of the best nights of his life.

“Does Usnavi know?” Nina asked, hiding her own smile as she tried to look mad. But anything that could make Sonny look that happy – as long as it didn’t hurt him or anyone else – was okay with her.

Snorting, Sonny shook his head.

“Do you think either of us would still be alive if he did?” He asked, amused by the very idea. He would be grounded and Pete wouldn’t be allowed to set foot in the bodega again.

Nina laughed. Usnavi was still more than a little protective and, whilst he was obviously warming to Pete, he would not be happy about them sneaking into clubs. He’d called her after Pete had asked to take Sonny out to double and triple check he’d done the right thing. Convincing him that Sonny wasn’t a child anymore and that it was okay to let him have a little fun had taken some work. But evidently it had been worth it.

“Fair point. Did you have fun?” Nina winked. Clearly the answer was yes.

“Yeah,” Sonny sighed, a dopey smile on his face. He would have preferred it if he hadn’t had a curfew at all and had been allowed to go back to Pete’s apartment after the club, but he’d take what he was allowed gratefully because anything was an improvement on an eleven o’clock curfew. “We went to The Tool Box.”

He hadn’t been expecting the name to mean anything to her. It hadn’t meant anything to him before he’d been, and he was technically the target market. It was even on a road that he’d walked down god knows how many times, he’d just never noticed the nondescript rainbow flag and the almost hidden sign. Apparently Nina had.

“A gay club?” She said, surprised. Although she didn’t know why she sould be, since it made sense that Sonny would feel more comfortable there. “Nice. Guessing Usnavi doesn’t know about that, either,” she smirked.

“Not exactly,” Sonny winced. He couldn’t imagine Usnavi’s reaction and he really didn’t want to find out for himself how bad it would be. He liked both himself and his boyfriend alive, thank you very much.

“Just make sure you’re being safe, kiddo,” Nina teased.

“Stop talking,” Sonny groaned, burying his face in his hands. He’d had enough of those type of conversations to last him a lifetime and he just glared through his fingers when he heard Nina laughing.

*

Half an hour later Sonny ended his call with Nina and padded out of his room to the kitchen to find food. Rooting around in the fridge for chocolate, Sonny froze when he heard a voice behind him.

“So, Pete took you to a club.” Usnavi said, his voice apathetic. Sonny couldn’t tell what exactly he was thinking, there was no way it could be good.

“What?!” Sonny asked, shutting the fridge was shaking hands. He didn’t even try to deny it. “How did you-”

“Heard you talking to Nina. He promised me nothing illegal,” Usnavi pointed out, crossing his arms.

Definitely not good.

Damn. Of course. He’d put in headphones with the idea that Usnavi wouldn’t be able to hear the conversation, but all that did was keep Nina’s side of the conversation secret.

“It wasn’t,” Sonny protested. “Not really. We didn’t drink, and he has a friend that let us in, so no fake IDs or anything. Please, Papi, you don’t know how… how much it meant to me.” He blushed to admit it but he was hoping the truth would show that they hadn’t gone out to get drunk and break rules. He just wanted to not be judged.

Usnavi faltered for a second.

“What do you mean?” He asked, confused and a little sceptical.

Sonny paused for a long moment. He didn’t know whether admitting exactly what club they’d gone to was going to make things better or worse. Theoretically it was no different, but he knew gay bars had a much worse rep and there was no way Usnavi wasn’t going to think that too. But if he explained then he could try to make Usnavi see that Pete had all the right intentions. He just hoped that Usnavi had come far enough to abandon old prejudices.

“It was a gay club,” Sonny admitted, wincing. “No one got mad when I danced with him and kissed him, no one even cared. I’ve never felt like that. Please, don’t be mad at Pete.”

He was close to begging already, but he was terrified of the repercussions of that night. Usnavi was his legal guardian, he had every right to ground him or make him work extra bodega shifts so he had less time to spend with Pete. Or he could stop him from seeing Pete altogether. Well, he could try; Sonny wasn’t giving him up that easily.

Usnavi was less than impressed.

“He took you to a gay club?” He asked, blinking. It hadn’t even occurred to him.

Rolling his eyes, Sonny slumped down into a chair at the table and picked at the raw end of the wood grain.

“It’s no worse than him taking me to a straight club,” he muttered, scowling. He probably wasn’t helping his case.

“He shouldn’t have taken you to a club at all!” Usnavi exclaimed, raising his voice and throwing his arms up in frustration. He’d been beginning to trust Pete and now they were back at square one.

“He knew it would make me happy,” Sonny said, sadly. And it really had.

Usnavi sat down in the chair opposite him and frowned.

“Was that worth being grounded for several weeks?”

Looking up and meeting Usnavi’s eyes, Sonny shrugged. The worst he could imagine he’d get was a few weeks of grounding and any measure of time spent in that club with Pete seemed worth that.

“Yes,” he answered honestly.

Usnavi was surprised for a second. He hadn’t expected Sonny to so quickly accept the removal of his freedom. Clearly the club really had meant a lot to him. Still, that didn’t make it okay. He pushed it a little further.

“And me not letting you see Pete?” Usnavi threatened,

That’s what Sonny had been afraid of. He shook his head, looking hurt.

“Don’t,” he said.

The question of whether three hours at the club was worth not seeing Pete for an indefinite length of time was just as easy to answer as the previous one, but this time it was the opposite decision. No, it wouldn’t be worth that. But no one had given him the ultimatum beforehand.

“I should,” Usnavi sighed.

He couldn’t let Sonny get away with lying to him and sneaking into clubs; there had to be some rules. And keeping him away from Pete would teach the both of them a lesson. But he didn’t actually want to upset him that much. It was understandable that he liked being in a space for LGBT people; as far as Usnavi knew he’d never been in one before and it had to feel safe. But it didn’t have to be a club and it didn’t have to be when he was underage.  
“Yeah, maybe you should,” Sonny admitted, because it did sound fair. “But I’m asking you not to.” He pressed his lips together, closing his eyes and trying to regret the club. He still didn’t.

“On what grounds?” Usnavi asked, considering.

Sonny swallowed his pride and gave the most honest answer he could manage.

“He did it because he loves me and, after everything that happened with the bodega grate, he wanted me to be somewhere I wouldn’t be scared,” he mumbled, getting quieter and quieter as he got closer to the end of his sentence. He felt his cheeks heat up but the sentiment got across.

“Sonny…” Usnavi sighed, torn between wanting Sonny to be happy and wanting him to be sensible.

“Ground me,” Sonny said, resigned to that particular fate. “Go ahead. But don’t try and make me stop seeing Pete.”

He knew he was pleading and he was more than aware he had no real argument as to why he should be trying to bargain, but three weeks of not seeing Pete sounded horrible.

“Would you even listen?” Usnavi asked, smirking a little. He knew his cousin.

“No,” Sonny admitted. He would probably sneak out through the window of his room or skip school to visit Pete’s apartment. “So don’t just add another reason why you need to ground me.”

Usnavi thought about it. He had plans to visit Vanessa in a week and there wasn’t a lot he could do to stop Pete coming over when he wasn’t there. And even if he stayed he couldn’t watch Sonny all the time and eventually he’d probably slip away.

“Okay,” he grumbled.

“Okay…?” Sonny asked, afraid of the answer.

“You’re grounded for three weeks for lying to me. I am not budging on your curfew again.”

“But…” Sonny trailed off, hope in his voice and in his eyes.

Usnavi groaned.  A few months ago he would never have allowed Pete round to see Sonny whilst he was grounded – especially considering it was him who had taken Sonny to the club in the first place, but he really was starting to like the kid. He seemed to be good for his cousin, somehow and, besides, Sonny had been through a lot over the past couple of months when it came to his relationship. Usnavi didn’t want to be the one to make that worse.

“But Pete can visit,” he decided, compromising a little. “Door wide open. Fair?”

“Fair,” Sonny sighed.

He wasn’t stupid. He knew that grounded meant he was restricted to school, the bodega and home – definitely not Pete’s apartment. Which meant no kissing on the crappy old couch and no sex in Pete’s bed. And if they had to keep the door open at Sonny’s place, they wouldn’t be doing anything there. Essentially Usnavi was cockblocking him for three weeks and he goddamn knew it. But it was better than not being allowed to see Pete at all so Sonny was going to accept it.


	2. Birthday Present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little chapter today ^.^   
> Hope you enjoy!

It was one of the rare times that Vanessa was staying over with Usnavi instead of the other way around, and Sonny had been waiting for the opportunity to ask his cousin’s permission for something whilst there was someone slightly more sympathetic to take his side. Plus, Vanessa tended to soften Usnavi a little and make him happier, and Sonny figured that couldn’t hurt.

Breakfast also made Usnavi happier, so as soon as there were pancakes on the little crooked table, Sonny cleared his voice.

“So…” he began, unsure quite how to bring up what he had in mind.

Vanessa looked up, curious, but Usnavi knew Sonny better. He put his fork back down and gave him a suspicious frown.

“What do you want?” He asked cautiously, his mind flicking through several hundred ideas of things that Sonny might ask for.

Bringing up Pete was something Sonny had been holding back on for a while. It had only been a week since his grounding had reached its end and, although Usnavi hadn’t told Pete off for the whole club thing, Sonny couldn’t imagine he was awfully happy about it yet. So he went in with his request from a different angle.

“I turn eighteen on Friday,” he said, sinking back into his chair from the attention he was getting from Usnavi and Vanessa, before straightening his spine and trying to act more like an adult.  
“You do indeed,” Usnavi nodded, smiling a little. Sonny was growing up. “And last I asked all you wanted was the day off work. Changed your mind, bud?”

He wouldn’t mind if Sonny wanted a real present. They had some of the lottery money to spend and he deserved it.

“No...” Sonny trailed off, before rethinking. Could he ask for a night with Pete as a birthday present or did that sound entirely too creepy? And besides, he wasn’t looking for just one night; he was hoping to set a precedent for the future. “Well, kind of. I… You said I couldn’t stay over with Pete until I was eighteen, and since I’m going to be I was kinda hoping that I could-”

“No,” Usnavi cut him off.

His face had dropped into a scowl almost immediately. He’d known this was probably going to happen sooner or later but he much preferred the sound of ‘later’. Way, way later when Sonny could legally drink and had a college diploma. Sure, he was hardly asking to move in with Pete, but if Usnavi said yes then he was going lose his cousin several nights a month and Pete’s apartment was hardly in the best part of town. He just wanted him safe.

“But you said-!” Sonny protested, before Usnavi talked over him again.

“It’s just a figure of speech. Like ‘you can’t do that until you’re thirty’ actually means ‘never’,” he argued, crossing his arms and forgetting his pancakes completely.

When his girlfriend rested her hand on his arm to get his attention, he looked over confused.

“Usnavi, let him go,” she said softly.

Sonny really, really loved Vanessa.

Usually Usnavi did too, but he much preferred it when she took his side.

“’Ness!” he complained.

Although he should have been expecting nothing else. Whenever they talked about Sonny and Pete, she was a firm supporter of the couple. In her opinion, Pete was good for Sonny and vice versa. She hadn’t changed her mind.

“He’s right,” she shrugged, “you said no sleepovers until he’s eighteen, which he will be. That’s fair.”

When she was eighteen she’d been spending more nights away from home than she was spending in her own bed, and it hadn’t been a steady boyfriend she’d been with. She wasn’t even sure her mother noticed she was gone half the time. If Sonny wanted to go out partying and be sleeping around then maybe she would have sided with Usnavi, but if he was just going to spend the night with someone he loved and that Usnavi knew, she didn’t see the harm. It wasn’t like they weren’t sleeping together anyway.

Sonny couldn’t help but grin at Vanessa’s words. It was two against one and Usnavi’s scowl proved he knew it. Unfortunately, he was the one that got the deciding vote and Sonny could tell he hadn’t quite been persuaded yet.

“We haven’t spent the night together since you found out about us,” he began, building an argument. “Not even when you were downtown with Vanessa. There was plenty of opportunity to go against what you said and sneak around behind your back, and we _didn’t_. I think we more than proved that the both of us are worthy of your trust.”

Technically they’d had the one night after Nina’s farewell dinner but that definitely didn’t count as sneaking around since Usnavi had explicitly allowed it. And Sonny had gotten back in one piece after that, so surely it should count in his favour?

“He took you to a club,” Usnavi deadpanned.

Sonny flinched. That was going to keep coming back to haunt him until he died, he could tell. At least Usnavi had dropped the ‘gay’ part of that accusation. Still, it didn’t seem fair.

“He took me somewhere I felt safe and happy and like I belonged,” he shot back, crossing his arms stubbornly.

They’d been having the same argument for almost a month and neither of them ever backed down. Vanessa just rolled her eyes and went back to her breakfast – they could go on for ages about this one subject. She agreed with Usnavi that Sonny shouldn’t have lied about where he was going, but she also agreed that the two boys hadn’t really done anything wrong and that it was sweet that Pete had put so much effort into taking Sonny somewhere he felt comfortable being himself. It was something she stayed out of, for once.

Usnavi looked at Sonny for a long moment, taking in the young man that had somehow taken the place of the cheeky kid he’d known. Eventually he had to let go. And he did trust Pete, despite the club incident. What was he really achieving by saying no? They were already having sex anyway, so it wasn’t exactly stopping that. And Pete knew that if he let Sonny get hurt, or hurt him himself, Usnavi would make him regret it. The worst it would do was make Sonny happy. Sighing, he gave up.

“You’ll be safe,” he ordered.

Sonny blinked, not quite sure he’d understood. Was Usnavi actually… agreeing? By the teasing smirk Vanessa was giving him, the impossible had actually happened. A bright grin quickly took over Sonny’s face, and he nodded almost violently.

“Yes,” he promised, still beaming.

“And you won’t do anything I wouldn’t,” Usnavi pressed.

Vanessa snorted into the tea she was drinking, giving Usnavi an angelic smile when he turned to give her an incredulous look. Sonny didn’t really want to think about what that exchange meant.

“Umm… Sure?” he said, confused.

Usnavi nodded tersely, just once, and Sonny knew that was a yes. He jumped out of his seat and rushed around the table to give Usnavi a hug, then giving Vanessa one just for the hell of it. It was uncharacteristic of him and when arms wrapped around Usnavi’s shoulders from behind he knew he’d made the right decision. Sonny was well and truly happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is Sonny receiving his college application responses... 
> 
> If there's anything in this relationship, past or future, that you want to see then feel free to leave me a prompt in comments!


	3. Blackout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I screwed up my chronology and basically the chapter after this is the one where Sonny gets college responses. This one is basically just fluff, to be completely honest... :')  
> There's three more chapters to come after this, unless anyone wants to see anything else specific!

When the lights flickered and then all faded out, Sonny panicked. Blackouts were up there on his list of least favourite things, along with death threats and his family dying. And having to pay for soda. It wasn’t the first time the power had gone out since the night the bodega had been wrecked, but he hated it all the same. And this was the first time he’d been alone in the store. Usnavi was down visiting Vanessa for the night and Sonny was in charge – which was usually fine. But _usually_ the lights turned on.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket and wincing at the battery sign showing 15%, Sonny was calling Usnavi before his autopilot turned off and he was painfully aware that the only light in the store was from the phone in his hand. His hands were trembling when Usnavi picked up and it took 5 minutes of reassurance that _everything is going to be okay_ until he’d calmed down enough to take instruction. Close down the bodega – there was only an hour left of selling time anyway, pull the grate across and go home. Light a few candles and stay safe. He could do all that.

Usnavi couldn’t get home – no power meant no traffic lights and no buses, and no trains. Not wanting his cousin to feel bad, Sonny promised him he’d be okay alone and explained that he had to hang up before his phone died completely and he didn’t have any light to lock up by. Once Usnavi was gone Sonny stared into the darkness of the store for a long minute, remembering the night everything had been trashed. The only good thing about it had been the kiss Pete had given him before promising he’d be right back. That was before kissing was a regular thing, and every brush of their lips had seemed like a fucking miracle to Sonny. It had almost made that entire power outage worth it.

By the time the bodega was shut up and Sonny was hurrying up the stairs to Abuela’s apartment (would it ever stop feeling like hers?), his phone was on 7%. Not good. As soon as he was inside with the dead bolt across, he pulled up his boyfriend’s contact (which absolutely did not have a heart at the end of his name because that would be entirely too sappy…). The phone started ringing, Pete calling him, before he could do anything else. Unable to stop a smile from creeping onto his lips at the coincidence, Sonny answered the call.

Pete knew he hated blackouts and, after apologising profusely that his phone had been dead and he’d spent twenty minutes annoying all of his neighbours until they lent him a backup charger, he went straight into Worried Mode. He was worse than Usnavi; it was almost endearing.

“Where are you?” he asked, concern thick in his voice.

“Home,” Sonny said, looking around the empty apartment and shivering when darkness looked back at him.

He wasn’t afraid of the dark. If he knew the lights would turn on when he flicked the switch it wouldn’t bother him, but all he had was the light of his phone and it wouldn’t be long before that died on him. Candles it was. As Sonny started rooting through drawers to collect a mix of the candles Abuela had owned and the stock he’d build for nights like this, Pete continued his well-meant interrogation.

“And the bodega is all locked up?”

Sonny smiled for the first time since the lights had gone off. It was almost calming to hear Pete’s worry; it reminded him that people cared and didn’t judge him for being afraid.

“Yes, babe,” he said fondly. “The grate is locked and everything is safe. Including me. Stop worrying.”

This wasn’t Pete’s problem. Sonny knew he had a job the next day and didn’t want to be the reason he was late or missed it. He couldn’t ask him to come over.  
“Is Usnavi with you?” Pete asked, ignoring him entirely.

Sonny winced at the reminder that no one else was coming home. Anxiety started bubbling in his stomach again. Although it had calming to talk to his cousin and his boyfriend, their voices seemed so far away down the phone line.

“…No,” he admitted, after a long pause. “He’s downtown with Vanessa.”

Pete sighed, long and almost sad.

“Cariño, you shouldn’t be alone,” he said, his voice soft and warm in a way that made Sonny’s stomach ache.

Sonny shivered at the endearment. He’d heard it a thousand times, and he was currently fighting a panic attack, but he still loved that it was what Pete chose to call him more often than not.

“I’m fine,” he promised, lying through his teeth. “Don’t worry about it. Stay home.”

***

By the time Pete had hung up, Sonny had a phone with 2% charge and a pile of candles. He lit the candles quickly and scattered them around his room and the kitchen until there was a warm glow surrounding him as he sunk down into a chair at the table. It was better – not great, but better. Without his phone or the TV, Sonny wasn’t quite sure what to do. Common sense said homework but it was a Friday night and that could wait. By the time he’d decided that there was a book in his room he wanted to finish, there was a knock at the door.

Sonny froze. There was no one who would be coming round on a Friday night without prior warning and flashbacks of the guys who’s destroyed the bodega two years ago played in front of his eyes - but he couldn’t exactly imagine them knocking politely and waiting. So, as tentatively as he could whilst still actually moving, he crept towards the door and looked through the peephole. When he saw Pete awkwardly standing on the other side of the threshold he rolled his eyes and pulled the door open. Damn boy couldn’t listen to instructions.

When Pete pulled him in to a hug, Sonny felt tears collect in the corner of his eyes. He had a stupid, idiotic, insanely sweet boyfriend who knew him far too well.

“I said I was fine,” Sonny mumbled, trying to sound put off as he clung back tightly.

“I knew you were lying,” Pete shrugged, grinning as he let Sonny tug him inside the apartment and shut the door behind them.

He almost stumbled when he walked into the kitchen and found Sonny’s candles. There had to be at least 30 of them in just that one room and they were giving off a subtle heat as well as a dynamic, hazy light. It was cosy, that was for sure, but it didn’t look in the slightest bit safe.

“Jesus…” Pete muttered. “This is a fire hazard and a half.”

It felt almost romantic, with the candlelight dancing shadows against the walls and the way it lit Sonny’s face in warmth that Pete wanted to see if he could taste on his lips. Even so, Pete could already see the headline: ‘Two Die In Careless House Fire’, the article no doubt referring to them as ‘close friends’.

“It was the only thing I could think of,” Sonny said shortly, a little defensive. Okay so it wasn’t his best idea, but he didn’t have anything else charged up that would give off light. He should probably invest in a torch or two, for the inevitable next time.

Pete walked over to the nearest candle and licked his fingers before dancing them through the flame.

“You know we can’t fall asleep with these all lit, cariño,” he pointed out, adding the nickname just to see Sonny smile again. But the shy smile quickly turned into a fearful panic.  
“I’m not blowing them out,” Sonny argued, out of alarm rather than anger.

Everyone who was close to Sonny knew he didn’t like blackouts, but there was only a handful of people who knew how bad his anxiety was when it came to the subject. Pete softened a little at stark reminder in front of him.

“You don’t have to,” he promised. They _probably_ weren’t going to set the house on fire. “So, what do you want to do?”

Pete’s voice had a teasing edge and he took a step closer to Sonny, sliding his hands around his waist and up under his t-shirt. If it were any other day Sonny would have taken the bait and moved even closer still, but tonight he flinched powerfully and pulled away.

“Not that,” he said, fast, before catching himself and wincing. “Sorry, I’m jumpy. The blackout thing, and what happened last time we did anything here… Not tonight?”

Pete smiled reassuringly and kissed Sonny’s cheek, mumbling a quiet “of course”. Any night he got to spend with his boyfriend was worth it, he didn’t need sex. He looked around for something else that could occupy them and his eyes fell on the shelf of board games that had belonged to Abuela Claudia.  
“So, Jenga?” He asked, grinning.

Sonny laughed, kissing Pete quickly and silently thanking the universe that he’d been understanding, before shaking his head and making his own decision.  
“Monopoly,” he said firmly, the glint in his eye promising a challenge that Pete couldn’t resist.

***

They made it three quarters of the way through a game before Sonny started to yawn. They were lying on the floor of Sonny’s bedroom, surrounded by candles with the game board between them. Every now and then they’d trade lazy kisses over the game, caught up in the ambience of the evening. The frequent breaks for that, and to eat all the food in the fridge because ‘we can’t let the chocolate cake spoil…’, meant a game that should have lasted a few hours was already almost at five.

“Go to sleep, babe,” Pete said, fighting back a yawn of his own.

They’d come to the silent decision that Pete was staying the night, for the first time in several months, and Sonny was almost tempted just by the idea of having his boyfriend in his bed again. If only sleep didn’t mean turning off the lights, or in this case…

“But what about the-” Sonny gestured to the candles.

“I’ll blow them out once you are,” Pete suggested, shuffling his Monopoly money into piles so they could start to pack the game away.

It was clear Sonny was tired and would be asleep in minutes. Pete could keep his eyes open long enough to wait for that and then make sure they didn’t wake up in the middle of a burning inferno, before climbing into bed beside him and revelling in the sense of sleeping in Sonny’s comfortable bed again.

It took Sonny a few sleep-leaden seconds to process what Pete had said and he pressed a grateful kiss to Pete’s cheek before helping to clean away the rest of the Monopoly parts. He really did love his boyfriend sometimes.

***

When Usnavi woke up the next morning to find that the power uptown was back on, he jumped on the first bus that would take him back to the barrio. Sure, Sonny had said he’d be fine, but Usnavi knew his cousin was prone to downplaying his own feelings in favour of others. After a bus ride of fidgeting and worrying, Usnavi was dropped off at the stop at the end of the block and he may or may not have been guilty of running a little to get to the bodega quicker.

Letting himself in to the apartment, he could hear someone moving around in the kitchen and he headed that way, surprised Sonny was up so early on a Saturday.

“Are you-” That wasn’t Sonny. “Oh. Hey…”

In hindsight he shouldn’t have been too surprised to find Pete in his kitchen, but finding Sonny’s boyfriend putting the kettle on to boil was a bit of a shock in the moment.  
“Hi. Sonny was alone and he hates blackouts and-” Pete babbled.

The boy looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights and Usnavi had to put him out of his misery.

“It’s fine,” he reassured. “Thank you, for coming over. For him.”

Pete smiled a little, nodding.

“Always,” he said softly, and Usnavi could hear the love he had for Sonny in the word.

Pete looked away to hide the sappy smile he couldn’t supress. He busied himself with the kettle in his hands before realising that he only had two mugs out and there were now three of them.

“Coffee?” he offered.

Usnavi raised an eyebrow. He’d never been offered coffee in his own apartment before, and he spent half his life making it for other people. But a change seemed nice.

“Please,” he replied, grinning.

They waited in awkward silence for the kettle to boil, neither quite sure if they should talk. Pete was painfully aware that Usnavi probably thought he and Sonny had had sex in the apartment the night before, and he didn’t know how to bring up the fact they hadn’t without addressing the fact that, yes, he had had sex with Sonny on many occasions. And, despite the fact Usnavi definitely already knew that, it wasn’t top of the list of conversations Pete wanted to have with his boyfriend’s cousin. On top of that, it was the first time they’d been face to face for an extended length of time after the club incident. Pete wanted to avoid discussion of that at all costs.

Usnavi wasn’t entirely sure how to start a conversation either, but he was more concerned with not wanting to make Pete seem unwelcome. He was still less than happy about what Pete had done, but he’d had his heart in the right place and Sonny cared about him more that Usnavi had seen him care about anything or anyone in his life.

When Sonny’s voice sounded from the other room, they both breathed audible sighs of relief.

“Pete?”

“Out here.” Pete bit back the ‘cariño’ he would have added on the end if they’d been alone.

Sonny shuffled out of his bedroom, rubbing sleep from his eyes with the cuffs of his sweater. He was barely awake and when he saw Pete at the counter stirring sugar into coffee he made a vague noise of appreciation and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s waist. Resting his forehead on Pete’s shoulder, he pressed a small kiss to the back of his t-shirt and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘love you’. It was perhaps too much gratitude for one cup of coffee, but Sonny tried to make sure Pete knew it wasn’t just for that. It was for everything.

Usnavi looked Sonny up and down from his seat at the table, taking in the hoodie he’d never seen before that was clearly way too big for his cousin. It took him a moment to realise that he had, in fact, seen it before, just not on him. The borrowed jumper combined with nothing but a pair of boxers (those he was pretty sure, thankfully, were actually Sonny’s) gave the distinct impression of domesticity and Usnavi felt uncomfortably like he was intruding on something, despite the fact this was technically his apartment.

Letting himself enjoy Sonny’s warmth and closeness for just a second, Pete sighed and ran his fingers gently over the back of the hands around his waist before ruining the moment.

“Usnavi’s home,” he mumbled, cautiously.

If anything could wake Sonny up without coffee, it was that. He jumped away, blushing furiously and wincing as he turned to see his cousin smirking at him from the table, looking amused by the reaction. Sonny was glad not to see disapproval, but that didn’t mean he was comfortable with Usnavi seeing him be so sickeningly affectionate with his boyfriend. It was a side of himself he usually revealed only to Pete.

“Hey, Cuz,” he stammered. “We were just…”

He trailed off. There was no other way to explain what was happening. Pete had come over to stop him freaking out in the blackout, they’d spent the night together, and he’d wanted to start his morning with cuddles and coffee. All of that was eminently clear and Sonny really wished it wasn’t.

Usnavi just offered a small, reassuring smile.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I know you hate blackouts.”

Sonny groaned. He hated bring treated like a child just because it terrified him when the power wouldn’t come on when he flicked the switch. It wasn’t like he didn’t have good reason to be afraid.

“I don’t-” he tried to protest, before sighing. There was no point in trying to deny it in front of the two people who knew him best. “Okay, yeah. Maybe.”

“I’m glad you weren’t alone,” Usnavi said, hoping the implicit approval of Pete was clear.

Sonny just managed a forced nod and retreated as far back into the kitchen and away from Usnavi as he could. When Pete finished stirring the sugar into the coffee and turned to hand Sonny’s over, he found him leaning awkwardly against the fridge like he wanted to disappear into it, never to be seen by his cousin again. He automatically stepped forward to get close to him, aware he was best as tactile comfort.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, passing over the coffee and offering a small smile.

Sonny couldn’t frown at anyone who was offering him caffeine. He gratefully accepted the cup and couldn’t help but press a quick kiss to Pete’s cheek as a thank you. Had Usnavi not been there, it would have been on the lips. Actually, had Usnavi not been there Sonny would probably still be holding onto Pete like a koala, refusing to let go until he was placated with coffee and kisses. But a kiss on the cheek was progress, as was Usnavi not kicking Pete out the second he’d found him in the apartment. Despite the crippling anxiety that still resonated from the night before, Sonny couldn’t help but count this whole experience as a success.


	4. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonny finds out if he got in to his dream college or not...

"Usnavi."

The name came ringing through the bodega and, despite the uncharacteristic tremor, it was obviously Sonny. Usnavi put down the box he was sorting in the back room and stuck his head out the door. It was more than a little unusual for Sonny to call for him like that. Usually he’d be more than happy to run amok in the bodega to his heart’s content – right now it sounded like he was asking for permission for something and it made Usnavi uneasy.

He found Sonny stood just inside the doorway, holding an envelope like it might explode with an expression of pure terror on his face.

"Yeah, cuz?” Usnavi asked, cautiously. “What's up? Is-” He’d left the back room and, as he got closer to Sonny, an emblem from John Hopkins University became visible on the front of the envelope. He stopped. “Shit. Is that...?"  It was an acceptance letter, or possibly a rejection. Usnavi was hoping with everything he had for the former. "Open it!" he insisted, unable to bear the idea that they had the answer to Sonny’s future in their grasps and they were ignoring it.

Sonny was less certain. He turned the envelope over in his hands so the emblem wasn’t facing up at him. Getting in wasn’t even enough. They had Abuela’s lottery money – Sonny had cried when Usnavi had told him the remaining third could go towards college tuition, but it wasn’t even enough to cover one year of fees and board. If he hadn’t gotten some kind of scholarship or financial aid, there was no way he could afford it. And it would hurt more to get in and not be able to go because of money than it would to never get in at all. He didn’t want to open the letter just to find out he had to miss out on an opportunity because he was too poor to go.

"I can't,” he mumbled, his throat dry and scratched with nerves. He just wanted to be good enough.

Usnavi sighed. College meant the world to Sonny, even if he and Pete had had a nightmare of a time trying to convince him to actually apply, and it was clear he was placing all of his hopes on the one envelope in front of him to tell him what he was worth in the world. That wasn’t fair.

"Yes, you can,” he insisted gently, guiding Sonny over to the stool behind the counter so he could sit down.

Maybe the bodega wasn’t the best place to do this but Sonny didn’t look like he would be able to climb a flight of stairs. His hands were beginning to shake and his pupils were blown wide with fear and the threat of tears.

"I can't,” Sonny protested, sounding frantic. “What if I haven't gotten in. What if I'm stuck here forever, and I never make anything of myself. What if I'm nothing."

He said each sentence like it was more like the current truth then a fear. The idea that he would be just another person on the earth who lived and died and changed nothing for the better kept him awake at night and it seemed all to close to becoming a reality. Pete had had to cope with his anxiety attacks, ones he desperately hid from Usnavi so he didn’t worry him, more times than Sonny cared to admit.

Usnavi gently tugged the envelope out of Sonny’s grip and placed it on the counter, rolling his eyes when he just took his phone out of his pocket and began turning it over in his hands instead, needing to occupy them to try and stop the shaking. Forcing Sonny to look him in the eyes, he tried to convey what everyone knew.

"Hey, you're not nothing. You're Sonny de la Vega. You're eighteen years old. You like peanut candy and red vines, and slushies that have far too many weird ingredients. Your family comes from the Dominican Republic and you’ll always have two homes: here and there. You're kind and caring and sympathise with everyone.”

The list had Sonny blinking in confusion. He knew all that already, it wasn’t going to get him into college and it wasn’t going to make him any money to pay fees with. It was all trivial.

Usnavi frowned when he saw that he wasn’t getting through and he tried again.

“What that envelope says doesn't mean anything – it can’t tell you all that, and those are the things that matter. You have an entire barrio who knows you're going to go far, no matter what. You have a cousin who loves you and is proud of you, and a boyfriend who feels the same. Speaking of..."

Sonny was too busy smiling over both the admission of feeling and the mention of Pete to stop Usnavi from snatching the phone out of his hands and typing away at it.

"Hey!" he complained.

There was a lot on that phone that Usnavi did not need to see. He and Pete were getting along at the moment and Sonny didn’t want that to change – some of the messages would almost definitely send Usnavi back to a place of ‘must protect the young and innocent child from the big bad graffiti artist’, even if the texts were mutual. When he handed the phone back without so much as a disapproving glare, Sonny couldn’t help but be grateful that he hadn’t pried.

"I told Pete to come over,” Usnavi explained. “He can either be here to celebrate your victories or help console you with shitty TV and ice cream, but I thought you'd want to see him either way."

If everything nice that Usnavi had said about him so far was a little burst of warmth in Sonny’s chest, him inviting Pete round was a firework. The entire barrio was important but if Sonny was forced to rank who he cared about most, Usnavi and Pete would beat everyone else out and there was no one he would want to cry to about his future not being all he hoped.

 ***

When Pete rushed into the bodega ten minutes later, still confused by the ‘ **Sonny probably needs you. He got his JHU letter. Can you get to the bodega? – Usnavi** ’ text he’d received, he was confronted by Sonny holding a piece of paper in his fist so tightly it was crumpled, tears glistening on his cheeks. He stopped in the doorway, pain eating up at him. He wanted everything for Sonny, even if that meant a long distance relationship, and he was hurt that whoever sent that letter couldn’t see how utterly incredible and passionate and intelligent his boyfriend was.

"Oh Sonny,” he sighed, walking over carefully like approaching a wild animal. Usnavi was probably better at offering comfort that he would be, but he still wanted to be there any way he could.

“I’m in,” Sonny managed, his voice heavy with emotion like the shock had closed up his throat.

Pete stopped in his tracks, not convinced he’d heard right. But Usnavi was grinning and even Sonny was managing an overwhelmed smile and that was all the confirmation Pete needed.

"Fuck yes,” he shouted, not caring for manners as his face went from devastated to ecstatic in a second and he pulled Sonny into a huge hug, half pulling him off the stool in his enthusiasm. "God I love you. I'm so proud of you. You're amazing."

He buried his face against Sonny’s shoulder and grinned when Sonny wrapped his legs around his waist and clung like a koala. Sonny started to giggle, short sharp laughs that were full of unadulterated joy and quickly dissolved into hiccups.

Usnavi waited for a moment, letting Sonny share his overpowering happiness with Pete until he felt like he could let go of his boyfriend. When he did he turned to Usnavi and gave him the biggest grin that he’d ever seen, and it was clear that was the sign for Usnavi to close up the bodega for the time being, lunchtime rush be damned.

"I know I said shitty TV and ice cream could be a good consolation, but how about using it to celebrate, too?" he asked, addressing both of the boys. Sonny nodded for the two of them. "So Friends, and chocolate ice cream? Peanut M&Ms?" He paused before the last one, unsure whether or not to offer it. They were still Sonny’s favourites but Pete had done a decent job of also becoming Sonny’s favourite and he more than outbatted the candies. But it was a special occasion.

"Yes,” Pete answered confidently. “We're celebrating."

Sonny shook his head quickly and rectified the answer.

"No, no to the M&Ms. We're celebrating,” he said coyly, giving Pete a suggestive smile that he couldn’t help but return.

He took Pete’s hand and squeezed it, clearly implying some greater plans he had for the evening that would be significantly hampered if they couldn’t even kiss. The acceptance letter had given him a giddy shot of confidence and, whilst he’d probably cringe at being so open in front of Usnavi later, right now he didn’t care.

Usnavi just rolled his eyes as he collected a quart of ice cream from the freezer – one of the benefits to running a store was that you were allowed to pilfer your own produce.

"More information than I needed to know, cheers,” he said sarcastically, still not eager to hear too much about his cousin’s sex life, even if he’d accepted that it existed by this point.

Sonny muffled a smirk and swiped a pack of regular M&Ms from the shelf instead, popping one in his mouth as he read back over his acceptance letter – with partial scholarship – to check it was real. He was going to college. He was going to make everyone proud. He was going to make a difference.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter, hope you enjoyed!  
> Teaser for the next part: tattoo ;)


	5. Peace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beware: huge time jump. We're in the summer after No Me Diga is set (late June) and Nina is back home again.

Sonny had been counting down the time until he could go to Pride. Now Usnavi knew about everything there would be no repeat of not being able to get away surreptitiously like there had been the previous year. One conversation about staying safe and legal, and one slightly stern order that Pete look after him, and he had Usnavi’s permission to go – a decision that won him a grateful hug and a reassurance that he’d receive texts throughout the day. In all honesty Sonny would have done anything to go and hold Pete’s hand and feel like he belonged.

The precedent for occasionally staying over with Pete was still in place from Sonny’s eighteenth birthday and he made full use of it the night before Pride. Sleeping beside his boyfriend still hadn’t gotten old.

“Stop staring at me,” Pete mumbled, smiling sleepily as he half opened his eyes to find Sonny already awake.

“Hypocrite,” Sonny laughed, poking Pete in the ribs. He’d long lost track of the number of times he’d woken up to find him looking at him like he was something special.

Pete was still half asleep so his only response was to pull Sonny closer and bury his face into into his shoulder. He didn’t want to get up when his boyfriend was warm and comfortable and right there. Sonny reduced his productivity by at least half; he made it so tempting to stay in bed.

“Not today, babe. We have to get up. Pride, remember?” Sonny prompted, but allowed his fingers to tangle themselves in Pete’s hair even as he spoke. He was a big supporter of staying in bed all day, but Pride was once a year and he didn’t want to miss it.

Pete groaned but, after two or three minutes, he kissed Sonny on the cheek before dragging himself out of bed to the shower. Sitting up and stretching, Sonny gave himself a few moments to will his muscles to move before going to join him.

 

"Okay, we both know I'm better at spray paint but I'm not using that shit on you, so here."

They were dressed and almost ready to leave when Pete held out the black palette with circles of colour. Sonny raised an eyebrow, confused. Sensing that more information was required, Pete jumped to explain himself.

"It's body paint. Face paint. I though I could-"

Sonny cut him off.

"Yes,” he agreed emphatically.

He loved Pete’s art. There was an album on his phone called ‘reasons I’m proud of my boyfriend’ that was a collection of pictures of the murals he’d done around New York City. Everything from the bodega grate to the murals he did for preschools or the art installation that he’d be a part of that he’d had to wear a suit to the opening of and Sonny had nearly died. The idea of having some of that magic on his skin sounded perfect, and there was no better time than Pride.

Pete just blinked, bewildered by his enthusiasm.

"You don't even know what I-" He pointed out, but Sonny interrupted again.

"Anything,” he grinned, reaching up on his toes to kiss Pete quickly.

Wrapping his arms around Sonny’s waist to hold him still for a longer kiss, Pete let his mind run wild with ideas of what exactly he could paint on his cheek. Something colourful. Something bold and resilient, like his boyfriend was himself. Something defiant. When the perfect design started to form in his mind, he gave Sonny one final kiss and tugged him over to sit on the sofa, eager to paint it before it escaped him again.

Sonny hadn’t anticipated how intense it would feel to have Pete paint on him. He’d seen the focus and passion with which he worked on walls and grates, but this was something else. All that attention focused on him would have been enough for Sonny to get lightheaded, but when Pete started to paint part of the design using his fingers – soft, gentle touches on his cheek that felt almost reverent – he couldn’t breathe. It took several seconds after Pete had announced that he was finished for Sonny to register the words, and he had to blink away a haze of hypnosis before he could stand up.

As soon as he internalised what Pete had said, he couldn’t get to a mirror fast enough. The image had taken about ten minutes to draw and it seemed to cover most of his left cheek, but other than that Sonny had no clues as to what was on his face. When he saw his reflection in the bathroom, he gasped.

Pete had drawn an explosion of colour. Like someone had angrily thrown every colour of the rainbow at him, but instead of turning into an ugly mess, it dripped into the shape of a peace sign, with the icon itself being made of the clear skin left behind,

Hearing Pete tentatively lean against the doorframe, Sonny span round to see him so uncertain, silently asking if his work was okay with just the tentative smile in his eyes.

"Pete..." Sonny breathed, unable to form any other words.

Frowning, Pete laced his fingers together and awkwardly rocked from foot to foot.

"You hate it,” he mumbled, ready to start apologising and over to clean it off.

Sonny couldn’t understand how Pete was still so insecure about his work. At this rate he was going to have to be reassuring him until the day he died – not that he minded that much.

"No!” he protested. “It's beautiful." And he meant it.

Pete blushed. He was used to Sonny’s praise of his art by now, but it still made him happier than he could contain.

"Only because the canvas is,” he mumbled, hiding a grin.

Laughing and shaking his head, Sonny took Pete’s hand and kissed it – a thank you he didn’t know how else to express, before practically dragging him out the door. It was already later than they’d planned to leave and Sonny wanted to see how many compliments his face paint would get, just so he could explain that his boyfriend, who hopefully wouldn’t leave his side, was the artist.

 

The painting on Sonny’s cheek didn’t last the day. Heat and kisses and sweat and touches meant it was a mess of colour by the time he collapsed into bed beside Pete that night. He’d feel bad about getting the paint on Pete’s sheets but there was already enough colour from various mediums everywhere that he figured it wouldn’t make much difference. He definitely didn’t have the energy to get back up and wash it off, and when Pete cuddled closer to him he didn’t have the will, either.

 

The image Pete had drawn stayed in Sonny’s mind long after the last streaks of colour had been washed from his cheek. He found himself missing it. It had felt right; like it was part of him, and he wanted it back. Eventually, one week after Pride, he brought it up with Pete.

"Will you paint it again?" he asked, completely out of nowhere whilst they were half watching Jaws and half watching each other as they cuddled on Pete’s sofa.

Pete looked confused, yawning and brushing the back of his knuckles over Sonny’s cheek before replying.

"Paint what, cariño?" he asked. He painted a lot of things and Sonny could have been talking about any one of them. He didn’t tend to repeat the same piece of art twice, but Sonny always counted as an exception to any rule he had.

"That peace sign. On my back, near my shoulder?" Sonny said.

It sounded like the perfect place. Just easy enough to see without a mirror by looking over his shoulder, but easy to hide from anyone he didn’t want to see it. He didn’t necessarily want anything permanent, just something that would stick around for a few days. He wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to the design yet.

"Sure? If you want,” Pete said, a little bewildered but happy to comply. He’d loved painting on Sonny.

"In something that will last longer, this time,” Sonny added, a little shyly.

"I'm not giving you a tattoo,” Pete laughed. The list of reasons Usnavi had to not like him was long enough as it was, he wasn’t about to add giving Sonny an extremely complicated stick and poke to that.

Laughing, Sonny shook his head. He couldn’t imagine what Usnavi would say if he came home with a tattoo.

"No, just Sharpie or something. If that would work. I just really liked it."

He smiled softly, trying to shove all budding ideas of a tattoo of the design out of his mind. Usnavi would hate it. But it would be Pete’s gorgeous work, designed just to represent exactly how he felt, permanently on his skin. He’d never have to worry about it washing off. And he was old enough and had all of his share of the lottery money – he could spare a little for something frivolous… The idea was getting harder and harder to stamp out.

"I can probably come up with something.” Pete shrugged, shuffling a little to get more comfortable. “Tomorrow, though."

Sonny nodded, resting his head on Pete’s shoulder and smiling contentedly. He was happy to wait a little.

 

Two days later Pete came into the bodega near the end of Sonny’s shift, too restless to wait for him in his apartment when the weather was so nice. Usnavi didn’t mind that much if he hung around for a little while before Sonny was allowed to leave, so long as he wasn’t ‘distracting’.

There was no one in the front of the store, but that wasn’t strange. Pete was sure that Sonny would be in the store room, organizing stock, and he headed back to make his presence known and greet him with a kiss.

"Hey,” he said, as soon as he walked into the room to find Sonny diligently sorting through jars on the floor.

Turning around at the noise, Sonny’s grin turned to a wince as the movement pulled on his shoulder. He tugged the jacket he was wearing – that Pete recognised as his own – closer around himself. It was the end of June so the presence of outerwear alone was somewhat a cause for concern.

"What's wrong?" Pete asked, crossing the room to crouch down beside Sonny and hesitantly reaching out to touch his shoulder.

"No, nothing,” Sonny explained, shying away from the touch. “Let me just..."

He took off the jacket, not meeting Pete’s eyes. The loose vest he had on underneath didn’t cover his shoulder and the image that Pete had drawn the night before with sharpies, rubbing alcohol, baby powder and hairspray was still there. Only now it was wrapped in plastic wrap and clearly inflamed.

"Shit!” Pete cursed, recoiling. It looked painful and he hated the idea that he’d done that to the person he loved. “Did you react to the drawing? I'm so sorry, Sonny. Was it the markers? Does it hurt?" There were tears in the corners of his eyes, but Sonny just bit his lip and shrugged, looked bashful.

“It wasn’t the markers,” he mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"I don't understand- Wait.” Pete stopped and stared wide-eyed. “Did you... Is this a tattoo?"

The question hung in the air between them. It became obvious that Sonny wasn’t going to give an immediate answer and Pete returned to looking at the image on his shoulder. Now the word tattoo had been said, it became obvious that was what it was. All of the colour was swollen and a little raised, and whilst Pete didn’t like Sonny being in pain, he loved knowing that something he’d drawn was on his boyfriend’s body. He’d doodled little sharpie designs in the past; traditional tattoo images up and down his arm whilst they were watching Netflix, or interlocking hearts on his thigh when they lay in bed together after sex; but nothing like the peace design. That was all Sonny; what Pete saw in him and what he thought Sonny valued. The fact that it was that one Sonny had decided to get tattooed meant everything.

"You like?" Sonny asked, timid and unsure.

Pete blinked for a second. How was that even a question. He kissed Sonny deeply and roughly, trying to convey exactly how he felt – glad Usnavi wasn’t around. This could almost definitely be considered distracting.

"You... I...” he stumbled. “Shit. Yeah. I like. I really like."

Sonny relaxed at the approval. He’d felt terrible not asking for permission, considering it was Pete’s design, but he’d hated the idea that he might say no.

"Nina came with me earlier today,” he explained. “I promise I wasn't planning it, but you said that thing about tattoos and I couldn't stop thinking about it and I just really didn't want it to fade before someone could make it permanent."

Pete gently trailed his fingers lightly over the tattoo, seemingly mesmerised by the image.

"I would have come, cariño,” he mumbled.

He had his own tattoos and he knew that the experience was far better when you had someone’s hand to squeeze. While he was happy Sonny had had Nina, he wouldn’t have minded having the bones in his own fingers crushed instead.

"I wanted it to be a surprise,” Sonny said. “Didn't hurt too bad, don't worry."

It was only a slight lie. It depended on your definition of ‘too bad.’ The process hadn’t been a walk in the park, but it hadn’t been as bad as he’d expected and it was worth it for the final result.

"I'm on your skin forever, Sonny,” Pete whispered, like it was a secret. He couldn’t wrap his mind around what that meant. Were they going to be together for that long? He really hoped so.

"I know.” Sonny grinned. That was the point. “I love it."

Pete knew about tattoo aftercare from his own, but everything he’d gone through vanished from his mind and left him tongue-tied and questioning.

"When can I..." Kiss it. Worship it. Worship _you_. All the options ran through Pete's mind but eventually he settled on "give you a massage again?" His mouth was dry and he swallowed a few times to clear his throat.

He loved relieving the stress in Sonny’s muscles as much as Sonny loved getting the massages, and they were at least a weekly occurrence. The tattoo was definitely going to interrupt that.

Sonny shrugged, sighing.

"Two or three weeks. But the tattoo artist said to take things in the bedroom with my girlfriend gently for a few days. Then he winked at Nina. She set him straight about that pretty quickly and I didn't want to get into the whole boyfriend thing but still, same rules apply, I guess?"

"Worth it. So, so worth it,” Pete breathed, leaning in to give Sonny another kiss. "Does Usnavi know?" he asked when he pulled away.

Pulling a face, Sonny shook his head. That was something he was not looking forward to.

"Not yet. Kind of worried, but I don't care what he says,” he claimed, mostly telling the truth. He wanted Usnavi to like it, to approve of it, but if he didn’t then Sonny wasn’t exactly about to go and get it removed.

"I'd offer to be with you when he finds out but since it's my art, I think it's best I stay as far away from him as possible until we're sure he's fine with it," Pete said, laughing. He had visions of being chased out of the bodega with a broom for corrupting Usnavi’s young and innocent cousin. As if he hadn’t done that already.

"He likes you now,” Sonny protested.

"Yes and let's not change that,” Pete replied, smiling to show that he was – mostly – joking.

Sonny opened his mouth to say something when the bell at the door of the shop rang and he was obliged to go and actually do his job. He climbed to his feet, pulled Pete’s jacket back on and gave his boyfriend one more kiss before shelving all thoughts of coming clean to his cousin about the tattoo. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t scare him almost as much as coming out did, but he was older now. He knew himself and what he wanted, and Usnavi’s opinion wasn’t about to change that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got one chapter left in mind after this one, set when Sonny had moved away to college.


	6. Accusations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sent in about November, when Sonny is off at college.  
> Not really a satisfying ending, but just a random idea I had about protective Daniela ^.^

Daniela spent her entire day angry – which wasn’t a good emotion for a hairdresser. After she’d had to apologise for chopping someone’s bangs a little too brutally, and Carla had called her out for mumbling curses to herself, she took an early lunch break and headed back to Washington Heights. She had some confronting to do.

"Are you cheating on Sonny?"

She almost growled the words when she tracked down the neighborhood graffiti artist painting on a canvas in alley behind the apartment block they both lived in. The only time he ever painted on anything other than a wall was for Sonny, but that just infuriated Daniela more.

"What?!” Pete dropped his paint can in surprise, whirling round and gaping at her. “No! Why would you-?! No!" He protested, shocked.

Daniela just scowled. She couldn’t believe that Pete would pretend nothing had happened.

"Last night. Who were you with?" she demanded, crossing her arms and tapping a foot as she burnt a hole in him with a glare.

Pete blushed a violent red when he realised what Dani was talking about.

"None of your business,” he mumbled, staring fixedly at the floor.

He knew what Dani had heard. She lived in the apartment above him and could always hear everything through the thin floor (and had spent many mornings smirking at him in the lift when Sonny had spent the night before in his bed); he should have remembered. Of course she’d heard two voices when he’d… He cringed.

Daniela treated the deflecting response as begrudging admission and took several steps closer, her heels clacking against the asphalt.

"Ah, so you have been cheating on him!" She shouted, devastated for the boy everyone in the barrio saw as a little brother. He was still so, so in love with Pete, despite all the miles his college education had put between them, and this was going to destroy him.

Pete opened his mouth to talk, gawping like a fish for a moment before he found the words he wanted to say.  

"Never. I would _never_ ,” he explained. “I miss him so much it hurts, Daniela, how could I ever so much as look at someone else like that."

His eyes were wide and deep and the truth of what he was saying was clear, but that didn’t make any sense. Dani furrowed her brow and shook her head slowly. It didn’t add up.

"Then who were you with? Because I know I heard you with someone and-"

"Sonny. I was with Sonny,” Pete sighed, admitting to what had happened without being too specific. He liked keeping a secret or two.

"What? But...?" Daniela trailed off.

Sonny was in another State, there was no way he could possibly simultaneously be in Pete’s room. Except Pete held up his phone, embarrassed as he waited for Daniela to figure it out. Sonny might not have been there physically, but Dani had only heard someone, not seen them. And, despite reservations they’d both had to start off with, he and Pete had been trying to bridge the gap between Maryland and New York with phone sex. Evidently they needed to be more careful about it.

"Oh. Oh!" Daniela’s eyes widened as she realised exactly what was going on.

"Yeah,” Pete mumbled, less than happy about having to give up secrets that should have been kept between him and his boyfriend.

"Damn, didn't think the kid would be the type,” Dani smirked, almost impressed. She was one of the few who didn’t think of him as a child anymore, but she still saw him as Sonny – cocky and cheerful but pretty cautious when it came to his love life, particularly after Usnavi had basically caught him with Pete almost a year ago.

"Shut up,” Pete groaned, not wanting to talk about this in any more detail. They deserved some secrets even if the entire barrio knew about them.

He turned back to the canvas he’d been working on; smiling a little when he saw the vivid colours. This painting was more abstract than the GWB silhouette that Sonny had proudly taken with him to college, but it seemed more important. It was bright and happy and full of love. It was his life with Sonny in it.

“Sorry, I guess,” Daniela mumbled, a little embarrassed to have been so wrong. “I shouldn’t have assumed you…”

“It’s fine. Just put in headphones and _don’t_ listen next time –please!” Pete said, close to begging. He hadn’t seen his boyfriend in four months and he just wanted a little privacy when he got some pseudo-alone time with him.

“Give me some advance notice and I’ll spend the night somewhere else,” she joked, elbowing him lightly.

Pete just laughed, nodding to show that there were no hard feelings about her accusations. He felt as bad for being loud as she did for overhearing, and they could both mutually agree to bury the hatchet. Daniela loved Sonny, so she couldn’t help but like Pete by default just because of how much he mattered to her friend. As long as he was keeping Sonny happy and staying faithful to him, she had absolutely no problems.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of this collection of snapshots post-No Me Diga! I hope you've enjoyed them all. Because I love this paring too much I will probably write a No Me Diga prequel too, if it's something people want to read, just exploring how they got together. Unless everyone is very bored of me posting too much on here and would rather I didn't write any more... :')  
> As always: thank you for all the kudos and comments and encouragement, it really means so much!   
> Goodbye for now, lovely people :)


End file.
